Royals 3, Athletics 2; Pirates 11, Tigers 6: Put those two scores together and you have the Kansas City Royals in first place in the American League Central. It’s a half game, but at the rate the Royals are going they’re never going to lose a baseball game again. They’ve won eight in a row. They were eight games back three weeks ago. This is simply amazing. And with their bullpen and yet another injury to a Tigers starter, you have to give serious consideration to the fact that, yup, it’s sustainable.

Mets 5, Phillies 3: Anthony Recker hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh to break and 0 for 18 slump. Jon Niese gave up two runs on five hits in seven to break a pretty lousy stretch of play of his own. A Phillies’ fan sitting in the outfield seats tried to make this one 5-4 by snagging a ball hit by Chase Utley with his cap, causing the drive to originally be called a two-run homer, but on review it was changed to a ground rule double, scoring only the one run. Probably didn’t matter as Ben Revere flew out to end the game right after that, but good effort, dude.

Orioles 11, Yankees 3: The Orioles won. That’s good! But Manny Machado went out with a sprained knee. That’s bad. But Chris Davis came off the bench to play third and managed to go 2 for 3 with a two-run homer. That’s good! But the home run contained potassium benzoate . . . [blank stare] . . . that’s bad.

Dodgers 6, Braves 2: Speaking of bad, that’s what the Braves are anymore. They have now dropped 10 of 12 and are four games behind Washington in the increasingly non-competitive NL East. This after new Dodger Kevin Correia allowed just one run over six innings. L.A., meanwhile, is five games up in the West.

Rays 7, Rangers 0: Drew Smyly picks up his first win as a Ray, tossing seven and two-thirds shutout innings while striking out nine. Less than two weeks ago he was the expendable guy in the David Price trade. Depending on how Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez go health-wise in the next couple of weeks, he’s going to be sorely missed in Detroit. Colby Lewis walked a lot of dudes. The Rangers threw the ball around and allowed three earned runs. It’s just ugly baseball in Texas these days.

Twins 4, Astros 2: Joe Mauer had two hits, including an RBI single in the ninth to break a 2-2 tie. After the game Ron Gardenhire said Mauer could “get out of bed” and hit. Or, in this case, come off a 34-day stint on the disabled list.

Brewers 3, Cubs 1: Yovani Gallardo allowed one run over seven and struck out six. Asked after the game what was the difference here vs. his last not-so-good start: “Just command, to be honest.” I’m glad he’s being honest now. We’ve lived with your lies far too long, Yovani. It has to feel better to finally come clean about this. You weren’t fooling anyone. *hugs*

Mariners 11, Blue Jays 1: Felix Hernandez: seven innings, one run, three hits, 8Ks. Dude is clockwork. Plus he had 11 runs of support which is something he probably had to have someone explain to him for he is so unfamiliar with the concept.

Padres 4, Rockies 3: Yangervis Solarte hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh. The Padres bullpen struck out the last seven Rockies hitters of the game and nine of the final 12. Either the Rockies were seriously overmatched or else they all wanted to get back to their hotel to watch Shark Week.

The long-term problem with the Royals’ management is that they have been breathtakingly futile for years. The short-term problem is that they sold the farm to put together a team that is only marginally competitive.

I don’t think their recent run has changed this picture at all. They still aren’t a great team this season, and despite having some very good prospects over the past few years, their future does not look bright.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m pretty excited about this little stretch. But, there are still underlying problems. It’s just that winning tends to gloss those over. The best hitters on the team…are still Allard Baird draftees.

Where I will give Dayton Moore credit is being able to build a bullpen out of nothing. He’s done that several times over. If Duffy & Ventura continue to improve I’ll give Dayton Moore credit for that too.

Not a bad night for the Iron Giant. Aside from the aforementioned dingers and dive, he also drew a walk. But it feels like he hasn’t singled in over a month. The catch was terrific, too – he laid out face-first in the warning track after kicking up a dust devil with his slide, drew a long standing-O and offered the fans a “Be Seeing You” salute (cult of The Prisoner take note).

Other positive news for the Feesh: Casey McGehee seems to have shaken orf his mini-slump, picking up a pair of hits for himself and pulling back away from that dreaded .300, his personal Mendoza line. And Adeiny Hechavarria made a terrific play in the fifth to get a double play rolling, sliding into second base territory to snag a hard hit grounder, running to the bag for the out and throwing a bullet on the run to first to complete the twofer. Very nice.

The Feesh publicity machine has been cranking up the Brad Penny VETERAN PRESENCE thing since yesterday, along with more delusional commentary about “being in contention.” Hope lives eternal and all that.

Yeah, he’s in a no-lose situation now. Oh by the way, looks like the Thumb Harpy is between jobs again – this morning he chaired a board meeting for Eastern Airlines, now he has some time to reaffirm his abysmal uselessness, and this afternoon he’ll be chairing a board meeting for Lehman Brothers.

I’m convinced that Craig is researching new and better ways to troll O’s fans, ever since he labelled us untrollable in his recent trolling blog. He got some action from the Bud Norris Statement Game in Toronto last week, and I expected some trollable snark around this game since Bud pitched again last nite. But alas, no. So now I think he’s trying his best not to say anything substantive about the games, thinking that will cause us to get all riled up. Oh well.

So, here’s my preservative-free recap:

Bud struggled early.
Beltran stole home (!!)
Bud settled in.
Manny got hurt.
Chris Davis took over at third and smacked a dinger.
Light rain happened.
Bullpen took over, and the Yankees were limited to five hits, IIRC
O’s bats pounded out 14 hits and 11 runs, mostly off the Yankee ‘pen.
And the O’s committed three errors, and yet won handily.

The last time the Orioles beat the Yankees while committing three errors in the game?
1961.

I know every team has to deal with injuries, but this Machado knee injury sucks. Feel bad for him and feel bad for the team. I thought this was the year the O’s could really make some noise. But if they don’t have Machado and Weiters it will be a first round exit at best.

Hey now- no need for negativity all up in this clubhouse! Look at it this way-

Wieters (2013)- .237/.417/.704
Caleb Joseph (2014)- .228/.426/.711

And Joseph is throwing out 50% of runners as well. He’s a very fine replacement at catcher while Wieters is down. As for 3B, we have no idea what the status of Manny is just yet. Doesn’t look good. BUT. We have guys like Flaherty and Davis who are ample defensive 3rd baseman, the only major loss is the bat, so hopefully the pitching keeps doing what they’ve been doing as of late. In the meantime, we should enjoy the ride!

Joseph is no Wieters. You can show me all the numbers you want. Take away the last 9 days and Joseph’s numbers are not very good at all. Not to mention all the balls that he lets get by him behind the plate. Don’t get me wrong I love what he’s done and love his story. But if this MRI reveals bad news, it’s hard to imagine this team going deep in the playoffs when you don’t have Wieters and machado, and you have Davis hitting below the Mendoza line.

The O’s now sit 6 up Toronto and 7 up on New York, and are a half game behind the Angels for 2nd best record in MLB. They’ve scored 10+ runs in 3 of their last 4 games. And quite frankly if it wasn’t for the red hot Royals (or blue hot I guess?) the O’s would be the hottest team in baseball right now.

Here’s to hoping today’s MRI on Manny’s knee comes back clean and he’s just taking a few weeks on the bench to heal up a sprain.

“The Braves … are four games behind Washington in the increasingly non-competitive NL East,” says Craig.

Meanwhile, the comment section on the Washington Post website is filled with wailing, garment rending, and gnashing of teeth over the Nats’ alleged pitiful performance to date; there’s an expectation there amongst some of the fans that the Nats must win every game against teams with worse records, or else they are failing. Never has a four game lead in August felt more like a ten game deficit in late September to hear some tell it.

Good Lord, that’s annoying. I’m all for being a homer, but that was dumb. I hope everyone he knows emails him the link to that today. Sheesh.

happytwinsfan - Aug 12, 2014 at 9:05 AM

I would like to take this moment to point out that I famously, and fearlessly in that I had no rational justification whatever, on this very site prior to the season start, picked the Royals to win the AL Central.

On another note, Mauer got two hits yesterday bringing his hitting streak to 13. Only 43 to go as the nation holds its collective breath.

After the Royals took over first place last night I drug an old couch out into the street and was about to set it on fire while drinking all of the Boulevard, but then I realized I have to work today, and I should probably save that couch for September when the Royals actually clinch something that’s couch burning worthy.

It was a double tragedy last night. V left the game injured. How do I find this out? From phone alerts while I’m at the hair salon getting a TERRIBLE haircut. I asked for a trim on the bottom and then some length off the layers to give the top lift. Now, my hair that was a good way down my back is at my shoulders and it’s not even either. Meanwhile, my phone kept buzzing to alert me that the Pirates were killing us. The only redeeming thing from that game is that our offense did contribute. Be honest, when we were down 8-1 in the 5th still, did anyone really think we’d get as close as we did? Considering the deficit, I was good with how they recovered. A win would’ve been nice, but having runs on the board that could win a different game was a good salve.

I feel your pain. Due to rain in the forecast we ended vacation a day early and ended up with a trip almost 3 hours longer than planned due to flooded streets. The only word that can fully describe yesterday is shazbot.

Even with McCutchen and Walker out the Pirates are 4-3 without both of them. They also have a 63-55 record, which is good for the 1st place Wild Card. This team is one one of the most resilient teams I have seen in any sport in a long time. Look out for the Pirates once they get healthy, they will be a very dangerous team. Walker should be back this week, Cole this Saturday, and McCutchen next week.

Why you must get ahead of the Royals before the 7th, amply demonstrated in yesterday’s game. If those 3 arms don’t fall off before October, the Royals will be tough, as Ventura looks like he’s matured enough to go 6 innings, and Duffy and Shields are effective to very good as well. But I’d worry about overuse of Herrera, especially Davis, and Holland if I were a Royals fan.

Sonny Gray recovered, sort of, from his poor last outing, but he put the ball in the same spot twice with two strikes against Escobar and the result was identical as well. The guy has a decent .280 average, but only a .316 OBP, meaning he won’t walk. So don’t throw him a strike. But I got the feeling that Gray was overthrowing yesterday, maybe feeling a bit of macho competitiveness or something, rather than pitching. Maybe Lester can show him how it’s done today.